SIOUX CITY ā Jason Robley wasn't actively seeking new chainsaw sculpting projects. In fact, he'd told one of his most recent clients not to pass his name along to interested parties.
But when Pete Sandman showed up at his home in rural Salix, Iowa, asking him about turning three trees into sculptures at Sioux City's historic Hubbard Park, Robley couldn't say no.
For the past month, Robley has been a common sight at the park and 28th and Jones streets, using his chainsaws to create artwork that celebrates Hubbard Park's softball and baseball legacy. It's also a tribute to the many memories Robley has of walking dogs in the park.
"I guess I'm just doing it to pay Sioux City for all the good times I've spent in the park there," Robley said. "I like to encourage youth sports. It's just a good cause all around."
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in October 2023, the nearly 100-year-old softball and baseball venue has found new life in the past three years as a dedicated group of volunteers since 2021 has raised tens of thousands of dollars to refurbish and restore the field and its amenities.
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The facility had fallen into disrepair, with peeling paint and weeds growing up between the bleachers and fences. It was used mainly as a practice field for youth softball and baseball teams, a far cry from the glory days when some of the best men's fastpitch softball in the world was played there.
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With a softball in his pocket for a reference, Jason Robley carves the remains of a tree into a sign for Sioux City's historic Hubbard Park softball field Wednesday nearĀ 27th and Jennings streets. Robley is creating three chainsaw sculptures for the park.
The Sioux City Fastpitch Softball Association took it upon itself to restore the park, which opened as a city park in 1928. The concrete stadium seating, concession stand, dugouts and lighting were built in the 1930s as a Works Progress Administration project during the Great Depression. Over the years, the ballpark has fielded more than 30 inductees to the Iowa Amateur Softball Association Hall of Fame and several world championship teams out of Sioux City.
In the past three years, improvements include repainting the stands and press box, upgrading plumbing and electric in the press box and bathrooms, repairing the parking lot and installing a new scoreboard. More improvements are planned for a facility that once again is used almost every day of the week for youth softball and baseball games.
"The ballpark will be 100 years old in 2028, so I'd like to get all these improvements done by that time," said Pete Sandman, Sioux City Fastpitch Softball Association president.
So when three trees in the park had to be topped off because they were encroaching on power lines, Sandman decided that rather than leave the unsightly stumps in place, they could become part of the park's transformation.
Sandman had seen Robley's chainsaw sculptures in the neighborhood and asked the owners who had created them. Though Robley had asked them not to, they passed his name on to Sandman, who approached him with the concept of turning the trees into sculptures, coming to his home to share his ideas.
Members of the Sioux City North softball team celebrate the final out of an MRAC doubleheader sweep of Sergeant Bluff-Luton at SB-L Elementary School on Tuesday, June 4, 2024.
A lifelong artist and chainsaw sculptor for 10 years, Robley was intrigued. After a few tweaks to Sandman's ideas, he was on board.
"I just kind of went off what he had going," Robley said.
One of the sculptures is of the words Hubbard Park stacked vertically with a softball between the two words. The other two: a right hand holding an Easton softball bat and a left hand holding a Louisville Slugger baseball bat. Each is 10-12 feet tall, and Robley hopes to have two of them finished by Saturday, when the Fastpitch Association will host a 5 p.m. ceremony to dedicate a statue holding the National Historic Register plaque, which Sandman received this week, and include a presentation about the Sioux City Ghosts, an all-Black men's team that barnstormed the country from the 1930s to the '50s. Former local men's softball players will play in a 6 p.m. game.
Robley said the sculptures are among the most challenging he's done, and he's received positive feedback from passersby who observe him working.
"This is the only one I haven't had a negative comment on. Everybody has liked it," Robley said.
His sculpting side gig is hard work, but he's happy to be adding his contribution to the historical park.
"That's why I'm really trying to put myself into it. I'm proud of it," he said.
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